LeBLOND HEAVY DUTY

Mike Powell · Feb 9, 2006

I ran accrosed this big lathe and I am considering trying to aquire it. It is in a deteriorating building. I belive it was used very little in its life as it is in an abandoned machine maintenance shop. I dont belive it ever had to do production work. It has a 24-26" swing. Total lengthe is about 12'. It is rusty but with gentil purswaision I was able to move the carriage and the cross slide a bit. The thread chasing dial even turned when I moved the carriage a bit. And I have moved all the head gearshifts and turned the spindle over with the belt.
What is your opinion of this lathe? When were they built? The only thing I saw missing was the tool post and holders and of course all the wrenches. I think the rust would clean up with some oil, a wire brush and alot of elbow grease. Do you agree? Would parts or accesories be fairly easy to find? A lathe this long I might need a steady rest. How much does itr weigh my guess is 5000 lb
http://groups.msn.com/RoysHotRodGarage/57chevymansjunk.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=4746

Mike

Greg Menke · Feb 9, 2006

Nice machine... lathes.co.uk has some info;

http://www.lathes.co.uk/leblond/index.html

Tony's info suggests something between 1920 and the 1940's.

It looks pretty good. Fit it with a modern toolpost and it can do some stuff. Top rpm less than 400 probably. 5k is probably a good start, could be lots more with that long bed though.

Greg

akbc · Feb 9, 2006

Mike, I've got one almost like that but about 4 foot longer. 12,000# actual weight. A bit of a load for a half ton pickup.

Mike C. · Feb 9, 2006

LOL, yeah, 5K is a good start. That should cover the bed. Add another 2K for the headstock and a couple grand more for the carriage, tailstock and legs.

These old beasts are deceptively heavy. Remember, my 18x72" L&S weighed only 3500lbs when I bought it... yeah right. Turned out to be nearly double that once we got it loaded up and this one is even bigger.

Bruce Johnson · Feb 9, 2006

Hi Mike;

I've got an original 1919 LeBlond lathe catalog, and this lathe is shown in there, with every detail that I can see in the picture. So I'm sure it's from the 1910 to 1930 era.

The catalog has the whole spec sheet too. This machine is called the Heavy Duty Engine Lathe, with the Single Pulley Drive headstock and Quick Change Feed options. The "Single Pulley Drive" refers to the headstock having a full gearbox, so that the drive pulley at the back can be driven at a constant speed of 400rpm from the lineshaft (or motor).

It comes in 25" and 27" swing, so I'm assuming that this one is the 25" model. Weight with a 12' bed is 8980 lbs. Spindle speeds are 7-300 rpm; 24 speeds. The drive pulley is 18" x 6" wide. Spindle nose is 4" x 2tpi; 6MT. Quick change gearbox has 45 speeds, cutting threads from 1-30tpi.

That's a serious heavy duty lathe! If it really appears to be in restoreable condition, save it! There can't be too many of them around any more. Obviously, you're looking a pro-level job to haul it out of there and get it home.

Let me know if there's any other info from the catalog that would be useful.

Bruce Johnson

Mike Powell · Feb 9, 2006

Bruce,

That is alot of info. Thank you. This one does not have an 18x6 drive pulley. Might have been changed. It is run by a big old Westing house motor bolted to the floor. likely either 2 or 3 phase. One of the features I thought unusual is the drive clutch. Obviously designed to run on a line shaft. It has a long wooden pole suported above the machine. Slide it one way and you engage the drive the other disengages the drive. Prety cool! Pole is long enough to use anywhere along the machine. I was looking at the gear bok and this one is marked 3 1/2 TPI on one corner of the gear change plate and I belive 130 TPI on the other. Could this be a rare option of a fine thread gear box? How many horse power would it require to run her? Can a phase converter handle a motor this big?

Interesting thing is the switch it is wired too apears to have oil bath contacts and is bolted to the wall. It is the most unmolested lathe I have ever seen. Most machine shop lathes I have found have had a switch box bolted on somewhere but not this one.

Mike

Rick Rowlands · Feb 9, 2006

Mike and I are going down to look at this lathe this afternoon.

surplusjohn · Feb 9, 2006

give me the serial number and I can tell you when it was made, althought it should be stamped on the plate. As mentioned above this is certainly more than 5000 lbs. the out side gear handles were redesigned in the 30s however, I have seen monarchs with them stamped 1942. but with the big build up they may had been made earlier, or they continued making them well after the more modern head stock was available for what ever reason.

j.carlson · Feb 9, 2006

This is typical of the "transition" machine tools that were built for powering by lineshaft or electric motor. 1910 - 1930 is the right vintage.

I have a B&S and a OHIO horizontal mills and a small Worcester lathe built like this with the single flat belt input pulley.

Jim C.

johnoder · Feb 9, 2006

Hi Mike:

Looks like a winner if you have the room and don't mind moving heavy stuff. Mr. Engle at LeBlond told me the serial will start with a letter which is the date code. "H" for 1912. Sounds like "A" would have been 1905. This is possibly a teens machine, one of the earliest gear head efforts. It will have large plain bronze (or compressed Babbitt metal) spindle bearings and the top speed will be between 300 and 350 or maybe a little less.

It is new enough to have the unique LeBlond front way, and I don't know when they started that. The 1912 cone I am looking at still has a plain vee front way.

Should have a 1911 catalog here shortly to look at - maybe it will have something about this machine.

John

Greg Menke · Feb 9, 2006

The 12k is maybe a little high for this unit. American Tool Works lathes of similar swing and vintage had headstocks weighing just under 1000lbs, and extra length beds weighing about 300lbs/foot in increments of 2 feet.

Assuming the base length of the bed is 6 feet on this bed, I'd guestimate 8000-9000 lbs, plus another 2000 for the extra bed length, so perhaps not heavier than 5 to 5.5 tons.

Don't know why I didn't look this up last night...

Greg

Dave A · Feb 9, 2006

Sounds like a real find and one has to wonder why it was just left to rust once the roof started leaking. I see Rick has joined the quest, so hopefully another successful trip for STOIC.

Mike Powell · Feb 9, 2006

The building belongs to a small railroad. They only had one line runing north to youngstown, one south to eastleverpool and one to darlington PA. They likely only had 2 or 3 Locos at the height of things. My Grandfather once told me that you could ride the train to youngstown for a nickle during the depression. Then they closed up. I dont know for sure when or why but I do know it was after the change over to diesle as I found GM locomotive parts boxes lying about on one of my early visits years ago. In the early 90s someone took it over and was leasing a steem locomotive and operating a tourist line where they were taking short trips out as far as the old line could handle and then back the loco back up to where the trip began. The company that owned the loco sold it from under the folks renting it and so they closed. A short time after this vandals rely had a hey day. recently a box car was sent crashing thru a large wooden door. On my first fisit the toolpost was still there as were cuting tools siting neatly on the saddle as if the machineist was going to return tomorrow and run another job. The tool post and the tools have vanished. I would like to save the machine before something else hapens

johnoder · Feb 9, 2006

Hi Mike P.

1911 catalog loaned to me by Mike Malott shows the new front way and the geared head you show in your photo to be current as of that year. They also made a differing geared head for the larger machines as of this date. If Mike M. gives permission, I'll scan some pages and post them here.

Its a twelve speed unit. The 24 speeds mentioned in a post above come from those instances where a two speed countershaft was used to drive the big single input pulley. "The gears are all made from high grade steel and with the exception of the large back gear and the face gear are all hardened, the bores being ground true with the pitch circle after treating, insuring ideal running conditions."

These machines as of this date also have a double wall apron with all shafts/studs supported at both ends.

Looks like a serious heavy duty effort by a by then highly respected American maker.

John

Edit To Add

From the 1911 LeBlond catalog graciously made available for scanning my Mike Malott, we have the following. LeBlond had at least three differing styles of early gear heads. The one in Mike P's photo above, and the two in the 1911 catalog. Not exactly the same, but here is the description on this one

Then there is this one, sort of like Mike P's photo, but differently arrranged levers, and less the "bump" for the bull gear.

John

[ 02-09-2006, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: johnoder ]

Scott R · Feb 9, 2006

Hey John
Is this the same Mike Mallot that works for Kenametal?
Scott

johnoder · Feb 9, 2006

Hi Scott R:

I plead ignorance of who Mike M. works for.

John

Mike Powell · Feb 9, 2006

Hi,

Rick Rolands and I went down to look at the old girl after I got home from work. I looked at the tail end of the right way and was able to uncover this number 985. There was no letter prefix. I scraped for a good while with a pocket knife but got nothing more. Was this the right place to look for a serial number? I looked there only because all of my south bend lathes have had it there. I have contacted someone at the railroad and hope to hear something positive before next week. Keep your fingers crossed for me fellas And if ya hapen to be religious a prayer might not hurt. Lets see if they will let me save this thing.

Mike Powell :cool:

Mike Powell · Feb 9, 2006

That picture from the catalog looks like my photo but it has a pedistal base on both sides. The one I found has an A leg at the tail end. (I know You cant see that) It also lacks a gear lever on the top of the head. Would that one have run the back gear?

Thanks for all your info. Perhaps the 985 that I found on the way is a model number.

Mike

johnoder · Feb 9, 2006

Mike P.

Just be determined and fetch her home. As Whipping Boy says, big girls need loving too. If you are open to such, there is probably a few like me that would be more than willing to help out with expenses just to see it saved and maybe shined up for all to see.

As to knowing about her guts, you just have to get in there and see what is what. They are all simple honest creations but are all individuals more or less.

As to dating her, well LeBlond pretends they are clueless until you send them a photo and that number you found. Then Mr. Engle will probably say - "Oh! That one looks like 1914" (or whatever)

Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S. I did find out that only the Heavy Duty machines had that cool front way made like that.

John

Scott R · Feb 9, 2006

John
The reason I asked is Mike and I bid on some LeBlond brochures on Ebay. There was a catalog on the lathe I have which is a kind of rare Leblond. But Mike won the auction but he was nice enough to copy the catalog for me. And he also helped me straighten out a problem I was having with some carbide inserts.
He said hewould try and stop up when he is in the area.
Scott

LeBLOND HEAVY DUTY

Stainless

Diamond

Aluminum

Diamond

Stainless

Stainless

Titanium

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Diamond

Titanium

Stainless

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Stainless

Stainless

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Similar threads